With FundCount’s Multi-Currency General Ledger

Accounting and investment reporting are notorious pain points for family offices, but this needn’t be the case if technology is configured specifically for their needs.

Ask any single or multi-family office what their primary accounting and reporting challenges are and you are likely to hear a litany of similar issues – gathering data is time-consuming; we are too dependent on spreadsheets; managing multiple legal entities is cumbersome; timely consolidated reporting is a constant challenge.

We see this time and time again. And it’s not surprising. One thing that jumps out when you look at a family office’s IT ecosystem is the number of different systems needed to cope with the many and varied data sources. Even more noticeable, is that most accounting software that is deployed is designed for manufacturing and service companies, not the investment industry. It’s no wonder that family offices spend so much time on spreadsheets gathering data, checking accuracy, reconciling information and compiling reports.

In searching for that single source of truth, family offices must pay close attention to how data is gathered and organized in their accounting system as that directly impacts accessibility for reporting.

The Problem with Modular Accounting Systems

The financial ins and outs of your business are all documented in your accounting system. Expenses and income, costs for various levels of the operation, sales history, purchase records and more. All of this information is critical not only in indicating where your business “is,” but where your business might be going—or might need to go.

Financial transactions are data, and when you silo the data of your daily business with separate ledgers, you will never have a current, up-to-date picture of how your business is doing right now. Instead, by the time the data is batched and reconciled, compiled and reported, you are looking at a lagging indicator of your business’s health. Any trends you recognize are already progressed, and you’ve lost the opportunity to handle problems early.

What Is a Unified Integrated Ledger

An Integrated general ledger is a single accounting book or system in which all transactions are recorded. Because all sales, purchases and other expenses are logged in a single location, the unified general ledger system allows finance departments and others to get a quick snapshot of a company’s financial position and health in a single glance. Codes are used within the book to categorize transactions for easier reporting and tax filing. In some unified systems, rules can be created to help automatically assign repeated transaction types to preassigned categories, both saving time and reducing errors.

A Single Source of Truth

FundCount’s unique approach centers around a Multi-Currency Integrated General Ledger at its core, providing family offices with that vital single source of truth they require. This eliminates the issues of compartmentalized financial data and the inefficiencies and inaccuracies caused by modular accounting systems. Consolidating all transactions within a single platform, delivers several demonstrable advantages:

Instantaneous Financial Overview The reliance on outdated indicators derived from isolated data is no longer necessary. This system provides immediate access to a comprehensive financial overview of an organization, enabling informed decision-making based on the most recent information available.

Efficient Operations and Reduction of Errors The automation of critical processes eliminates the need for manual consolidation and reconciliation, activities that have historically been prone to errors. This not only decreases the probability of inaccuracies but also liberates valuable staff time for more strategic tasks.

Improved Responsiveness in Client Services With all financial data readily accessible, responding to client inquiries and requests becomes considerably quicker and more efficient. This enables organizations to surpass client expectations and establish trust through enhanced responsiveness.

Streamlined Compliance Management The system is equipped with pre-configured compliance tools and automated workflows, significantly reducing the load of manual reporting for tax and regulatory purposes. This ensures precision and efficiency while easing concerns related to compliance.

Scalability and Flexibility The inherent adaptability of the system allows it to effortlessly adjust to changing needs, easily managing complex structures and nested entities. This renders it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from individual entities to extensive networks.

Power BI for Enhanced Family Office Reporting

But information is only valuable if it’s accessible. That’s where Power BI comes in. The complexity of managing and interpreting vast amounts of financial data can often obscure the valuable insights that lie within.

Power BI, developed by Microsoft, is a business analytics tool that provides interactive visualizations with self-service business intelligence capabilities. It transforms the numbers from the Multi-Currency General Ledger into clear, easy-to-understand dashboards and reports.

If your office is looking for ways to improve, one of the most basic but important systems you can change is your accounting. Evolving from a modular system to a unified general ledger will offer the kind of streamlining that employees, clients, and the C-Suite will all benefit from.